Move it take two!

He's at it again!  Here's another fun move it for you to do!  Do you like kitty cats?  If you do, you'll love this piece!

MAPEL Bingo

I'ts our last week of school!  Here are two bingo ideas for this week~  See if you can get a black out!

Rainstorm Activity

💦Create a rainstorm with sounds you can create with your voice, body, or items around your house!  First, experiment with rainstorm ideas, use body percussion to explore pitter patter sounds of raindrops, pouring rain, thunder and lightning.  You can add wind sounds and a sign of a rainbow!

After you experiment with rain sounds, draw a picture of what is happening in your rainstorm.  You can make one big picture, or a conductor's score (a storybook) that describe with words or pictures what is happening in that section (page) of the rainstorm.

Order idea:
1. Wind, birds chirping, gradually leading into...
2. Light raindrops💧, stronger wind, 💨 gradually leading into...
3. Heavy rain,💦 then...
4. Occasional thunder and lightning ⛈ 💨(maybe strong winds too?)
5. Wind dies down a bit, heavy rain continues, thunder and lightning fade away
6. Light rain 💧
7. Rain ending and sun💥 coming out, birds chirping and a rainbow🌈!

You could try this as a “one man band” (all by yourself) or with family members being assigned different roles of the sound story.  You could point to the card you are performing or have a family member hold the cards for you and flip them when it’s time to move onto the next section.

Music Teachers miss you!

We created a video for the ECASD.  You get a sneak peek, the district will be sending this out to families soon!   Music teacher video  Miss making music with you!

Fun Google Doodle

There is a doodle that celebrates Oskar Fischinger's 117th Birthday.  He was a film maker who created wondering visuals connecting music and art.  Here's the link, I had fun playing with the doodle.  I bet Mrs. Janke would love it too!  Music and art connections happen all of the time.  Do you have any ideas of how music and art are connected?  Send me an email with your ideas!

Dance, Dance, Dance

Have you been moving to music at home?  Do you dance when you hear your favorite song?  Here are some moving ideas:  Play the freeze game, have a family member stop the music and you have to freeze in a statue shape!  When you make your statue experiment with the components below.

• Balance- which body parts are in contact with the floor?
• Facing- which direction is your body facing?  Is your head facing the same direction?
• Levels- which level of space are you exploring with your body?

Next try exploring balance, facing and levels when you are moving!  In this video, Someone You Loved, The Piano Guys have added dancers.  Watch as the dancers explore different levels, different facings, and balance.  It's so beautiful!  I hope you enjoy it.

  

Peter and the Wolf

Hi Lakeshore!  We study Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev in first grade so many of you have acted out the story and learned about the instruments in the orchestra.  Here is a beautiful video of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra performing this popular story.  Enjoy Peter and the Wolf.

Dream Drum Girl

Hi Lakeshore!  Today's post is a book called Dream Drum Girl by Margarita Engle which is based on a real person,  Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, Cuba's first female drummer.  Listen to the story first, then listen to her group play in the video below.

Throw it Out the Window

We have another silly song for you today called:  Throw it Out the Window.  This song interrupts nursery rhymes.  After you learn the song (which won't take you long).  Have a family member say a nursery rhyme or chant and then interrupt them for hilarious results! 

Playing Together Popular Songs

Hi Lakeshore,
Do you know what the inside of a grand piano looks like?  Typically a pianist plays the keys.  Well in these videos, the musicians are playing more than the keys!  I love the group, The Piano Guys and I use their videos a lot in class with grade 3-5.  So some of you may have seen this video before.  I like it better than the original to be honest!  What Makes You Beautiful

This next group is a family of kids who are playing in the same manner as the piano guys!
.....and Dance with Me

Listening Scavenger Hunt

Hi Lakeshore Students-  Here's a listening scavenger hunt for you!  Can you find these sounds as you move around your house?  Can you find any of the sounds on a walk?  Miss you!

Bantam of the Opera

Did you enjoy the book Bantam of the Opera?  The aria the rooster sang, La Donna e' mobile can be heard here in this video of Andrea Bocelli, a famous Italian tenor, singing this popular song at an outdoor concert.  La Donna e' mobile.

If you'd like to tour an opera house like the one mentioned in the book there are several famous opera houses you can tour online.  Vienna, the city of music, has an old beautiful State Opera House with rich history; many of the greatest classical musicians walked, rehearsed and performed their operas in this building.  You can push the arrows and take a self guided tour- you can even visit backstage and the roof.  During the opera season, which is during our school year, they put on a different opera every night!  I went to many operas in Vienna when I student taught in the city.  You can purchase a standing only ticket the day of the opera, you mark your place with a scarf and can pay under $10 to hear an opera!  It's a good deal.   Vienna Austria's Staatsoper link.

The Opera House in Sydney, Australia is known for its architecture.  Here is a tour of the building, it is on the water and an iconic building in Sydney.  All major cities have a performing arts venue and we have the Pablo Center for the Arts!  Have you been there yet?  Here's a link to the different rooms in the Pablo. 

The Pablo also sent out this list of musical performances:

Performance Art

• National Public Radio is compiling a broad list of performances for streamingorganized by date and genre. It's incredible to see so much variety!
• Opera fan? Now's the best time to learn more about this art form as the Metropolitan Opera is streaming its "most thrilling, thought-provoking, and uplifting" performances for FREE. Here are this week's performances.
• Best known for Phantom of the Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar and Cats, Andrew Lloyd Webber is streaming a musical every Friday, available here throughout the weekend. 

Happy Spring!

I have a silly post for you today!  I especially love the moral of the song~. Have a great long weekend.  Enjoy your family, sing, dance and get outside to play.

Little Bunny Foo Foo

Fun Videos

Hi Lakeshore,
Today is my youngest son's birthday and I know several of you are celebrating at home during this time away and I can't give you a birthday stamp and sing you the birthday song.  So, I thought I'd post some fun videos for you to enjoy whenever you have your birthday!  Happy Birthday Jazz version.

I learned about this quartet through my friend Mrs. Mosher.  She sent me a link to MozART.  The quartet has three types of string instruments in it:  two violins, a viola and a cello.  They play all kinds of music and make me laugh.  This video shows the men in casts-  they are pretending to be injured, yet are still able to play.  MozART: Playing while "injured".

This video features the famous piece by Vivaldi called the Four Seasons.  They insert a whole bunch of other songs into the mix.  See if you can hear Summertime, La Bamba, Jingle Bells and White Christmas!  Click here.  I hope you enjoy this group.  The concert halls that they play in are beautiful too.  Have a great day!

Keyboard Resources

Hi Lakeshore Kids-

I know some of you have piano keyboards at home and like to play.  Here are some fun websites that have ways to practice and learn at home!

Creative Piano Academy offers some nice basic techniques for beginners:  Creative Piano Academy

This video shows you how to play the melody (tune) of a song.  This website has falling colors that show you where to place your fingers on the keys.  It helps if you place your iPad close to your keyboard.  5 Easy Songs to Play on the Keyboard

On this video from Pianote, you learn how to play harmony parts (open chords:  basically do and sol) on the keyboard.  If you want to play a harmony background while you sing a song, this is a video for you.  We play harmony parts in class when we play a heart beat or an ostinato (repeated rhythm pattern) on xylophones and ukuleles.

It's fun to apply what you are learning and play with others.  Here is an example of melody and harmony parts being performed together.  Fish and Chips and Vinegar.  The singing and recorder parts are playing the melody, the piano and ukulele are playing chords (harmony parts):  the piano is a heart beat and the ukulele is playing an ostinato strumming pattern.  We also sing in harmony, each of us on a different verse; can you hear it?

Good luck!   Mrs Gransee Paral

Creative Movement

Hi Lakeshore Students,
At the beginning of class we enter to the drum exploring and moving musically in our space.  Here are some creative movement activities you can do at home in your space!  I've organized them by concept.  These ideas come form Feierabend's Movement Exploration book.
Awareness of Time:
Divide your room into two areas-- fast land and slow land.  Move around the room quickly when you are in fast land and go into slow-motion when in slow land.  You can pretend you are a super hero that has incredible speed or you've been trapped in a time warp and need to calculate each move!
Awareness of Parts and a Whole:
Play some fun music that you like to move/dance to.  Glue a body part to the floor.  (Not literally, just pretend!)  So try dancing with all of your other body parts except the part glued to the floor.  Try glueing one foot, or one hand, or your head!  The sky is the limit.  Send me a video if you like!
Awareness of Flow
Are you still playing fun dance music?  Turn on the radio if you need to.  Oh no!  You are a robot that's been left out in the rain and snow.  You are rusty and you can't move in your typical robot way, your joints are hard to bend!  Move this way across the room until you find some oil and then dance your typical robot dance!

Miss You!
Mrs Gransee Paral

You are My Sunshine

Hi Lakeshore Students,
The boys and I decided to sing and play a song for you today!  Try to get outside this morning, it's going to rain all afternoon, but don't fret- You are My Sunshine.  I miss you-  Mrs. Gransee Paral

Dance Party

Hi Lakeshore Students-
The weather outside today looks beautiful!  Have you had a dance party yet?  What are you waiting for?  Get outside, crank some tunes and dance!  If you have sidewalk chalk you can draw pathways to follow for dance moves... curvy lines, far apart lines so you can jump.  Dance with abandon!  Have fun and sing along.  I Like to Move it, Move it!  Miss you!  Mrs Gransee Paral

Classical Games for Kids

Hi Lakeshore students, are you looking for some fun games to play online?  Check out this website called Classics for Kids.  I think you'll have fun!  Miss you.  Mrs. Gransee Paral

MPR Music Lessons

Hi Families,
Minnesota Public Radio has put together some terrific lessons for children.  These are appropriate for all grade levels. Classical Music lessons for kids~ 

They also have storybooks paired up with classical music.  Pick a story that appeals to you.  MPR Classic Storytime.  Nancy Carlson is a Minnesota author and they use a lot of her drawings/books.  This morning I listened to A Cello Named Pablo.  If you loved Ada's Violin, I think you'll like this book too- it's from the perspective of the cello who tells about different acclaimed musicians playing him.  It's sweet and the music is gorgeous!

I miss you!  Let me know which stories and lessons you love.  Mrs. Gransee Paral